Penguins and Honeybees
Article and Photos by Ujubee
A pair of critically endangered African penguins in an artificial nest box
African penguins at Boulders are island birds. Their natural home is offshore islands that never had honeybees. When this mainland colony established in 1982/3, penguins suddenly found themselves sharing space with bees — an entirely new experience for them. Penguins are curious and investigate what interests them.
At Boulders they nest under thick coastal vegetation, digging tunnels beneath low shrubs and small trees. This vegetation protects them from sun, wind, and rain. The same microclimate also attracts other species, including honeybees.
The natural rhythm of wild honeybees
In fynbos ecosystems, the most important driving factor shaping honeybee behaviour is fire. Fires are natural, and bees have adapted to survive them. Colonies select nest sites that can withstand fire because bees will never leave their queen or their young. The queen is too gravid (heavy with eggs) to fly, so survival depends entirely on the nest site.
This fire-survival strategy sets the natural carrying capacity: about one colony per square kilometre. Bees do not breed indiscriminately — they only reproduce when conditions are suitable, so that both parent and new colony can endure into the next generation. This evolutionary wisdom keeps bees in balance with their landscape and with other pollinators.
How beekeeping disrupts bees
Beekeeping severs bees from this evolutionary knowledge. Living in human-made wooden hives means colonies no longer face fire as a driving factor — the boxes will burn and kill the colony, so the next generation never learns the ancient fire-survival wisdom.
Beekeepers keep hives in close proximity, creating unnaturally high densities. Colonies are often fed artificial supplements. Over time, bees become habituated to these artificial conditions. Managed bees “know” wooden cavities, high densities, and human interference. They learn humans are predators. They lose their natural rhythm and wild tuning.
Urban beekeeping, often promoted as “saving” bees, accelerates this loss. In reality, hives are honey-making devices designed for maximum exploitation. They force bees to produce far more honey than they would naturally, pushing them out of balance with their ecosystems and into competition with other pollinators.
Free-hanging Cape honeybee nest
The colony is enclosed, keeping the penguins safe from the honeybee nest
A wooden wall has been added to keep the penguins out of the bee flightpath
Bee breeding: how colonies divide
Honeybees reproduce by swarming. The old queen leaves the nest with about half the colony to find a new site, leaving a newly hatched queen behind. In the wild, the old queen’s knowledge guides the swarm to safe cavities that can withstand fire and sustain them. But managed bees use what they know: human-constructed cavities, artificial densities, food taken away by humans, and rhythms divorced from fire or carrying capacity to guide their choices.
This is how knowledge is passed — or lost — from one generation to the next. Managed bees no longer know how to live within nature’s limits.
Why penguins are at risk
At Boulders, wild fire-safe nest sites are already occupied. Managed bees seeking new homes turn to what they recognise: cavities shaped like hives, or sheltered human-like spaces. They are now found in artificial penguin nests made of fiberglass, in places wild bees would not normally choose, even hanging openly from branches where no wild colony could survive a fire.
This has tragic consequences. Penguins, not recognising bees as a danger, approach them closely. The bees respond defensively, stinging the penguins, and some penguins have died as a result.
A colony of Cape honeybees inside the artificial penguin nest box
Artificial penguin nest boxes
Why removal won’t work
Removing or killing bee colonies doesn’t solve the problem. Honeybee nests leave a chemical scent that lingers and attracts new swarms. As long as beekeeping continues in Simon’s Town, there will always be a supply of colonies looking for new homes. Removal techniques often trigger strong defensiveness, creating further risk to penguins and their chicks.
The way forward
The root cause is beekeeping. Stopping all beekeeping and removing the managed hives from Simon’s Town is essential. Only then can the situation at Boulders be stabilised. Each bee colony in Boulders must be carefully managed — not removed, but separated from penguins in ways that respect both species. This could include tunnels for penguin pathways near bee nests or enclosing free-hanging colonies so they feel secure and don’t need to defend themselves.
Penguins and honeybees are not natural enemies. But human manipulation of bees has placed them into conflict. By addressing the root cause — beekeeping — and working carefully with each free-living bee colony in Boulders, it is possible to protect both bees and penguins, allowing them to coexist without harm.
A tunnel on the penguin path to keep the penguins away from the honeybee nest entrance
Author and director of Ujubee NPC, Jenny Cullinan
